Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Getting Less Practical

Even though Kate was in Pampers from birth until we graduated to pull-ups (when I decided I’d rather buy generic, more to avoid Dora and other branded characters than to save money) I still love Luvs’ slogan, “Live and learn and then get Luvs.” The implication, of course, is that new parents buy the pricy diapers like Pampers or Huggies, then realize that Luvs are just as good and decide to be practical and save some money.

I’ve actually never tried Luvs, mainly because I just love how soft Pampers feel, compared to the stiffness of Huggies and store-brand diapers. Maybe I’ll give generics a try this time . . . after the newborn stage, at least. Who knows. But overall, so far at least, I admit I am getting less practical this time around.


With Kate, I was determined to go unisex on the nursery décor, so we could use it again for subsequent children of either gender. Her nursery was sage green with chocolate brown, and her bedding had green, brown, red, orange, and blue--no pink. It was polka dots and stripes, with some jungle animals in the mobile, lamp, and wall art.

If this one had been a boy, I really wanted to paint the nursery red to highlight the red polka dots and stripes more, and we’d reuse pretty much everything. (Matt hated the idea of a red nursery, so I guess we’re lucky it’s a girl.)

Anyway, when we found out this one was another girl, I kind of felt like, “well, bugger. I could have reused something a little more feminine too.” So, I decided, given my fairly frugal approach to nursery décor (ok, not as frugal as reusing things, but comparatively, and I’ll blog about that soon) I would take a stab at redecorating. So, Claire’s room is yellow, pink, green, and chocolate brown, with a little bit of a birdie/nature theme. I’m reusing some things, but admittedly, buying anything new (when I already have perfectly good stuff) is not the most practical decision.

And I’ve bought Claire a few new clothing items as well, despite all the hand-me-downs I told Matt would save us so much money if we had another girl! “New,” of course, typically means “new to us,” as I love shopping eBay and consignment stores for kids clothes. That matter of practicality will certainly continue, even when I get the itch to dress my girls in matching outfits (which I promise will be a rare occurrence, lest you think I’m crazy). I recently bought on eBay for Kate a 3T version of a jumper she had when she was 6-9 months old, so it is possible to do the matchy thing used.

Ever since finding out Claire was a girl, though, I’ve been dreaming of matching Christmas dresses, and even started way back in June looking for those dresses on eBay. However, it’s very hard to find (and even harder to win) two listings of identical items in two different sizes from two different sellers. So, I’ve resigned myself to buying those dreamed-of dresses new. (I did ask a Gymboree clerk the other day when their Christmas stuff will go on sale. She said discounts will start in just a couple weeks because they’re getting yet another line of Christmas stuff in—so I can get these beauties on sale!)

Finally, a principle of practicality I have not yet violated but probably will at some point… monogramming. Kate hasn’t had any monogrammed clothes because, of course, we wouldn’t be able to reuse them! (I love blogger Kelly Stamps, who actually gave her daughters the same initials so she could reuse the gazillion monogrammed things they had, but no way could I do that.) I have saved searches for “monogram K” and “monogram C” on eBay, but have never seen anything I like in a size the child would use in the next year or so. We’ll see how long I hold out, but these bloomers are definitely calling my name…

Well, Claire's name, but you know :0) 

4 comments:

EMU said...

Sounds like we are a lot alike! One of the reasons I didn't want to find out the sex of our first baby was so that all our baby things would be gender neutral and we could use it with all our kids. When it comes to clothes though, my kids were born in the wrong seasons to share much. Boo! At least we've inherited lots of our clothes from a cousin that was born in the fall, too.

I am ALL about matching clothes for my littles and can't wait to get them matching Christmas outfits. I'm to cheap to buy them though; I'll just add them to the Christmas list! :)

And I hate Gymboree. That place is always a disorganized madhouse. I've had a gift card for almost a year and still haven't used it because I get hives just stepping foot in that store!

Jessica Miller Kelley said...

With my girls three months apart on the calendar, I think most things will fit for at least part of each season. There may be a few gaps to fill this first year before Claire's growth slows down. (Isn't it nice to keep 2T things all year, rather than needing a whole new wardrobe every 3 months like the first year?)

I am a Gymboree fan, but prefer to get their stuff used since a) it's expensive new, and b) I like some of their older lines better than what's been coming out lately!

Kristen said...

This post made me giggle! I have been a little more like the Luvs slogan. :) For Addie's nursery, we had a complete crib set of PB Kids stuff, and it was about as girly as it could get. Landon got a cute set from Target. HA!

I admit, I LOVE to see siblings in matching/coordinating outfits. I buy matching clothes for my friend Lynn's boys sometimes. I don't think she puts them on them at the same time though ;)

Can't wait to see your beautiful girls in their Christmas dresses!

Rachel Moss said...

We bought Kately a pair of bloomers like that right before she was born. I think they were well worth the money because she was able to wear them until she was about one year old (even though they were 0-6 months). I also figured it would be one of those few baby items that she will keep forever.

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